Some 30 percent of Jeep Wranglers sold in Europe are of the two-door variety, but two-door Wranglers will be discontinued by next year, according to Automotive News. The reason is, you guessed it, because of tightening emissions regulations there.
Jeep is transitioning to only offering the plug-in hybrid 4xe version of the Wrangler in continental Europe, where it competes with the Land Rover Defender, since Ford has said it has no plans to bring the Bronco to Europe.
From Automotive News:
The shorter wheelbase of the two-door Wrangler, which uses a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine, does not allow enough space for a hybrid drivetrain to be fitted. All future Wranglers sold in Europe will be four-door plug-in hybrid 4xe models, with the exception of the UK, which will not get a right-hand-drive version and will continue to get the gasoline engine.
[...]
The two-door model “will gradually leave the market to the 4-door plug-in hybrid version (4xe),” Jeep said in a statement. It has already been discontinued in several countries, including France.
I’m a little skeptical that there is not enough space in the two-door Wrangler for a hybrid drivetrain, because Land Rover seemingly had no issues fitting a mild hybrid system in versions of the Defender 90 (the two-door one). But also it doesn’t surprise me that Jeep — part of the same conglomerate that makes Dodge Chargers and Ram trucks — is saying that.
I would guess, in any case, this is most likely also for regular old market reasons, as the big money for Jeep is in the four-door Wranglers. Still, the two-door Wrangler is Jeep’s whole brand identity, and therefore close to untouchable, at least in the U.S. Obviously, things are different elsewhere, but this is also what effective regulation looks like, as nothing’s untouchable, and, to save the world, a lot of it will have to change.